NFL says Roethlisberger lateral was legal

Posted by Mike Florio on December 11, 2013, 12:23 AM EST

AP

Thirty-one years to the month after the Immaculate Reception, the Steelers nearly crafted an NFL version of the “band is on the field!” play, if only receiver Antonio Brown had managed to stay on the field himself.

And if Brown hadn’t stepped slightly out of bounds only 13 yards from paydirt, the outcome would have become nearly as controversial as the Bradshaw-to-Tatum-to-Franco-possibly-by-way-of-Fuqua touchdown in the postseason.

One of the various pitches on the play included a lateral from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger that initially appeared to be an illegal forward pass. On Tuesday, NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino said on NFL Network that the ruling on the field of a lateral would have survived replay review, given the lack of indisputable visual evidence to the contrary.

This assumes, of course, that the referee John Parry wouldn’t have pulled a Triplette when reviewing the play.

The far more impressive bit of officiating came from field judge Scott Edwards, who remained in proper position throughout the chaos of the final play, saw Brown’s left foot land slightly out of bounds, and blew the play dead.

Making Edwards’ decision even more gutsy was the absence of the safety net of replay to overturn an erroneous call. While the failure to blow the whistle could have been corrected after the fact, if Edwards were wrong he would have been solely responsible for swiping a season-saving win from the Steelers.

In a year featuring so many high-profile officiating mistakes, Edwards deserves credit for getting a big call in a big spot right, and for having the nerve to be true to what he saw.

When this play happened, I told my roommate that the refs can save their a$$ in such cases by calling it a TD and then getting it overturned via replay if they were incorrect. But kudos to Mr Scott Edwards for spotting the out of bounds.

Kudos to Edwards on getting the call right. We so often criticize the officials (justifiably) for getting things wrong, that it’s great to see a perfect example of an official getting it right.

When you watch the replay, you can see Edwards running down the sideline, with his eyes fixed at Brown’s feet watching to see if he stayed in bounds. He did a great job and should be applauded. The times when officials get calls wrong overshadow the good work and effort they can do.

Yes, glad he got the call right. However, don’t call it a “gutsy decision” when he was doing precisely what his job entails, and likely not “making decisions” but reacting to the best of his abilities to get the calls right.

If you watch the play, Brown is actually offsides and moving before the snap. Not reviewable I know. But if Brown hadn’t stepped out, it would’ve been an extremely controversial TD. Glad it didn’t come to that.

So basically if Brown did not step out then there would have been a 50/50 chance that the touchdown stood. Blandino is just assuming that the refs make the correct call on the review which as we know is pretty close to a coinflip sometimes…

this is exactly what people are pissed about, in regards to the officiating this year, this article points out the positive, but completely ignores the erroneous assumption that the lateral was legal, when in fact, anyone without their eyes shut saw the obvious illegality.

“In a year featuring so many high-profile officiating mistakes, Edwards deserves credit for getting a big call in a big spot right, and for having the nerve to be true to what he saw.”

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Credit or criticism?

He made the call, he was correct, the right decision was made, all is right with the world. But wouldn’t it have been better to swallow the whistle, even if he was 99.99% certain that his foot went out of bounds? All scoring plays are subject to review, so the call could have been easily overturned, but on the small chance he would wrong he wouldn’t be making a massive season-altering catastrophic screw-up.

“The far more impressive bit of officiating came from field judge Scott Edwards, who remained in proper position throughout the chaos of the final play, saw Brown’s left foot land slightly out of bounds, and blew the play dead. Making Edwards’ decision even more gutsy was the absence of the safety net of replay to overturn an erroneous call. ”

“In a year featuring so many high-profile officiating mistakes, Edwards deserves credit for getting a big call in a big spot right, and for having the nerve to be true to what he saw.”

= = =

The official saw an obvious bright line infraction and called it. It involved the bare minimum amount of judgment or complexity of issues. It was an easy call and he simply did his job on a 1o second play – so let’s not go awarding him the Congressional Medal of Honor just yet.

I have been a proponent of abolishing the instant replay for a long time now. This article substantiates my position.

1. It interrupts the flow of the game and makes the games longer than they should be. (yea the people selling ad time hate this !!)

2. The instant replay interpretations are by imperfect people. Some of the conclusions leave me screaming, “What play were YOU watching?”

To return the integrity and flow of the game I propose the elimination of the instant replay and returning it to the refs on the field. I do not believe the reliability of decision making in the long run would be compromised. What do ya’ll say?

Isn’t this their job Floria? Or is it to set up the playoffs to benefit “certain franchises?”
Miami already got jobbed from the squealers in 2010 when Ben fumbled into the end zone and it was called a TD. Enough!

They are only saying that because we didn’t score. If he had scored, they would’ve brought it back. For the Steelers, it will forever be us vs. our opponents + the refs. That how it has always been and we still have six rings to show for our superiority.

Just like the lack of “indisputable evidence” when he fumbled in 2010, a Dolphin came out of the pile with the ball and yet, not enough evidence to call it a fumble…SMH…I’m glad Brown stepped out. I’m sick of all the calls (for many years) that have been in favor of the Steelers and this would have been another. Perhaps the tide is FINALLY turning and I couldn’t be happier!!

Even as a Steeler fan, I was all but certain that Roethlisberger’s lateral on that play was moving forward.

That said, I don’t recall the camera being perfectly positioned, either (at least from what I remember without having re-watched the play, the camera was at a slight angle by the time Roethlisberger had the ball, which might have given the appearance that it was moving forward).

hehateme2 says:
Dec 11, 2013 7:31 AM
Miami already got jobbed from the squealers in 2010 when Ben fumbled into the end zone and it was called a TD. Enough!
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Miami went 7-9 in 2010. If 8-8 got you into the playoffs, it would not have lasted. Get over it. Sure, you might get to sniff a wildcard spot, but make no mistake Brady makes the rules in the AFC East.

Love it. It’s not enough that Brown was ruled out, a ref called it, the TD didn’t stand, and the Dolphins won. You all have to rage about the entire play from beginning to end, as if the Steelers stole the game.

Gee, thanks, NFL. I’m so glad you took time to review the legality of a play that was nullified when Brown stepped out of bounds on the runback. Do you think you might take time to review all the officiating blunders each week that actually have an impact on game outcomes?